Several Catholic priests and a Jewish rabbi became emotional on the stand when describing how much Qatanani had done for interfaith understanding.

Qatanani is accused of having lied on his immigration documents both about his arrest and conviction in Israel (which he now claims was merely a "detention") and his confession that he was a member of Hamas (which he now claims was procured under torture). Qatanani also claims he only recently became aware of his conviction by Israeli authorities. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Heather Philpott has testified:

…during the 2005 meeting Qatanani admitted he had been arrested and convicted by Israeli authorities, and that he had been advised by an attorney at the time to plead guilty to being a member of Hamas and sign an affidavit to that effect.

News reports have alternately described Qatanani as "revered" (see New York Times above), "influential," and "respected." Likewise, all media reports have outlined both the charges against Qatanani and his excuses, bolstered by a coterie of quotes from supporters about how revered, influential and respected Qatanani is.

What those stories do not detail is Qatanani's history of attending radical conferences in the United States, nor his frequent use of incendiary rhetoric in speeches and sermons.

Qatanani was a speaker at an Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) conference in Chicago on November 27, 1999, introduced as the new imam of the Patterson Islamic Center in New Jersey.[1] IAP conferences are not good venues to participate or attend if one is trying to disprove an association with Hamas.

IAP is no longer an active organization, but for years it was a central player in Hamas' U.S. support network. Mousa Abu Marzook, currently the Deputy Political Bureau Chief for Hamas in Damascus, gave IAP $490,000 and is a former IAP board member. In a 2001 memo, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service identified IAP as "part of Hamas' propaganda apparatus." In the summer of 2007, the Dallas trial charging the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) with providing material support for Hamas produced extensive evidence that IAP played a central role in the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee, shorthand for Hamas' U.S.-based infrastructure. This earned IAP the distinction of being named an unindicted coconspirator in the trial.

In a September 2004 Herald News article titled, "HAMAS: Charitable cause or terror organization? It depends on whom you ask," Qatanani came out in favor of supporting the families of suicide bombers:

Mohammad Qatanani, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, posed a hypothetical question: What if the charity did support the children of suicide bombers? What would be wrong with that, he wondered?

"There is a big issue between supporting them before, not after," suicide attacks, he said.

He compared the support of orphans of suicide bombers to supporting the children of terrorists like Timothy McVeigh for instance, or the children of the man who killed former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The children are innocent, even if their parents might not be, he said.

In the indictment, however, the government makes the case that by supporting dead terrorists' families, Holy Land "effectively rewarded past, and encouraged future, suicide bombings and terrorist activities on behalf of Hamas."

Unsurprisingly, during the HLF trial, Qatanani publicly prayed for the Hamas-linked defendants, stating:

Oh Allah assist our brothers and sisters in Filastin, and Iraq and Chechnya. O Allah remove occupation and oppression and oh Allah improve the matters of our community, subhanahu wa ta'ala to assist our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land Foundation, ask oh Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to assist them and to remove the difficulty that they have been inflicted with all of the brothers and sisters in this country, oh Allah to prove them non-guilty.[2]

The people who commit such atrocity [hypocrisy] will be the swiftest in punishment on the day of judgment as Abdullah … narrated, the worst punishment that will people be taken are three people – the hypocrites and those who have disbelieved, from the followers of Jesus peace and blessing be upon him have disbelieved after the table came down, and the people of Pharaoh will be swiftly punished as well and they'll be amongst the hypocrites. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about the hypocrites, the hypocrites are in the lower pits of hellfire.[3]

These incendiary sermons aren't even well hidden from the public. Rather, they're available on the Islamic Center of Passaic County's website. In English.

And yet, less than a year later, Newsday reported that "several Catholic priests," or, as Qatanani referred to them, "followers of Jesus," became emotional on the stand - testifying in Qatanani's defense. Perhaps Qatanani's interfaith character witnesses were unaware that they had been damned to hell by none other than the man they came to defend.

Perhaps Qatanani's interfaith defenders are also unaware of his characterization of "Greater Syria" – including all of Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine (including Israel) as "Muslim land," and that fighting to conquer these lands is a divine commandment:

You see then the blessed prophet brothers and sisters chooses that the land of Greater Syria, and that includes Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – it is the Greater of Syria, these Assyria and Jordan was done by the occupation. You see that if you truly believe in these borders that means you believe in what the occupationer did. You see Syria, Palestine it's all the Greater Syria, Bilad al-Sham, it is the Greater Syria. You know some people might not like this, but this is the truth – it's all the Muslim land, this is Greater Syria, and Allah had called it in five places in the Quran as a blessed place. And it was narrated in a hadith that they are the most beloved lands to Allah. You see listen to the blessed prophet, says that he gives the companions good tidings that the greater Syria will be actually conquered. You see if you conquer the Holy Land or Al Aqsa Masjid that you are in struggle till the hereafter.[4]

As both Christians and Jews claim the rights in much of Lebanon and Palestine, Qatanani's views are hardly compatible with constructive interfaith dialogue, never mind his divine prescription that Muslims should conquer those territories. Qatanani is only the latest "interfaith" Muslim leader to face deportation charges for lying on his immigration documents, as well as having connections to a Palestinian terrorist group. Fawaz Damra, formerly of the Islamic Society of Cleveland, was denaturalized and deported for failing to disclose his ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and related U.S.-based entities on his immigration forms.

After Damra was indicted, "interfaith" leaders railed to support him, until videos emerged in which he referred to Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and was raising money for the PIJ. After this information was revealed, Damra apologized and claimed that he had reformed and that his views had changed. He was eventually convicted and deported to the West Bank. His partner in crime, literally, Sami Al-Arian, who Damra once introduced at his mosque as a PIJ leader, is currently in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, possibly facing an indictment on criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify in front of a grand jury investigating the terrorist ties of a Northern Virginia think tank, the International Institute of Islamic Thought.

Qatanani's three day hearing ended Monday afternoon, but has been extended. A decision on his fate is expected in the near future. But as both Damra and Qatanani (and Al-Arian) have demonstrated, "interfaith" leaders with ties to Palestinian terrorist groups cannot be trusted.

Reader comments on this item

This IMAM creates unstable familise which is the perfect breeding ground to be a suicide bomber

Submitted by Adam, Mar 12, 2014 09:53

That is the sad truth. This IMAM who enjoys his family of six kids knows (his brother in law after all was in Hamas) that children from families that their parents treat them very badly are the perfect place to recruit. Rather then help the poor child or young adult and tell their parents or the single mom to stop treating their child so badly instead they use the child's desperation and depression and having no purpose in this world to commit suicide bombings since they see their own father being abused badly and see no purpose in this world. Horrible evil as Qatanani hides behind adult women but cares nothing about children and uses our own immorality of putting adult women before children against us to create an environment that young men would be more likely to kill themselves not because of the USA or Israel but because of their own horrible life partly created by this lowlife named Qatanani. He is creating extremism by trying to use women to silence any Arab who doesn't agree with his extremism.

He may be at the level of what the USA have come to sadly.

Submitted by adam, Feb 18, 2014 21:29

Imam Qatanani is a low life and clearly a liar this IMAM who is not a man of God but a man who plays vile political games. In the you tube video of his deportation hearings Rabbi Dovid Weiss of Jews not Zionist is his supporter this "Rabbi" is considered a traitor by almost all Jews. In the you tube video of Qatanani documentary yes some police do support Qatanani but this is only because he supports the secular views of Domestic Violence that in any family problem between a man and a woman the man is 100% to blame. WAFA house uses our feminist secular version of Domestic Violence and this is a great way to terrorize men who may disagree with your positions. YOu can try to convince the wife to get a divorce and all you have to do is claim you are abused. This IMAM should know since he claims he was abused by Israel even though this likely is not the case as Israel had good reason to arrest him in the first place. If he truly was abused he would not ask others and tell women to make false claims of abuse to get rid of their husband. Leo McGuire the corrupt police officer of NJ supports this IMAM and this is because he obviously enjoys throwing men out of the home as some crooked police aren't respected by other men and their anger that other men don't respect them causes them to behave in this immoral way.

This proves nothing

Submitted by Salah, Nov 12, 2009 02:22

This article proves nothing.

If you are truly and sincerely interested in doing good journalism work, why don't you go visit the Imam Qatanani and find out who he actually is before you level all these accusations against him.

Also, go and ask the police, ministers, rabbis, government and community that Imam Qatanani interacts with to get a feel for this person.

I have met him and I have to say that he is a model American person. Who works very hard to bring communities together.

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